La literatura alemana desde Thomas Mann by Hans Mayer
Deutsche Literatur seit Thomas Mann (“German literature since Thomas Mann”) was written by literary scholar Hans Mayer (1907–2001). Alianza Editorial published this Spanish translation in 1970 in their “El Libro de Bolsillo” series.
For the cover design, Daniel Gil used components dating from around 1901, the year when Mann’s first novel Buddenbrooks was published. The illustration is a reproduction of Der Kuss (“The Kiss”), a six-color woodcut by Peter Behrens, originally included in Pan, vol. IV, issue 2 from 1898.
Behrens also designed typefaces, including his eponymous debut from 1901. Gil went with another German Jugendstil face that was first cast a year earlier by the same foundry – the Rudhard’sche Gießerei in Offenbach, which rebranded in 1906 as Gebr. Klingspor. It’s Otto Eckmann’s Eckmann-Schrift, easily the most popular and iconic release from this period. Coincidentally or not, it’s also the typeface used on the cover of the first edition of Buddenbrooks.
Gil previously used Eckmann for the cover of a book by André Gide.
